A Host City

When Mark and I moved to Kansas City 34 years ago, we thought of it as a 5-10 year stay and that once he got his career established we’d move to a city with a bigger university. In those first few years if he’d have said, “Let’s blow this joint,” I would have had the kids and the house packed up in two days. Except for the two biggies of less traffic and affordable housing I was not a fan of the place. Over time that changed as I found my people and it began to feel like home. Mark would often talk about moving, mainly due to frustration over his job, but after three moves for his career I flipped my mindset and was dead set against it. Our kids were in good schools, we had an established network, and living in a smaller city was so much easier than the east coast or Chicago. When family would come to visit I’d always say, “The longest it takes us to get anywhere is 20-30 minutes tops and we rarely have to pay for parking.” The badge of honor in a smaller city. Over the years we got a…